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Matthew 12-13

He seems so wonderful. He healed the sick, raised the dead and fed the hungry. He came as God on earth, to rescue us from our selfishness, and bring us back to God. To know him is to have God as your Father, and to have millions of fellow Christians as your brothers and sisters. He came to bring true and lasting rest to all of us who are weary and burdened.

That’s been the question we’ve been tracing through this chapter of Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13.

Today, Jesus has two final parables for us – one to put the final piece in the puzzle. One to give us the chance to step back and look at the chapter as a whole. We’re going to ask what all this means for our response to Jesus.

The cost of following Jesus

Verse 44: “He sold all he had”. Verse 46: “He went away and sold everything he had”.

To many people today, that is unthinkable.

The idea that we might give something up in order to follow Jesus – it’s madness.

The idea that we might give up everything we have in order to follow Jesus – well that’s just insanity.

Many people today are glad to be involved in church. Come along on a Sunday. Maybe even take some responsibilities and make themselves helpful. Maybe even give some money to support the work of the church.

That’s the question running through the chapter of the Bible we’re looking at this spring, Matthew chapter 13.

So far in the chapter, we’ve had two answers.

Answer number 1 came from the parable of the sower. Why are there so few Christians? Because not everyone responds to Jesus in the right way. For some, the message doesn’t go in at all. Others are distracted or give up when life gets tough.

You watch the news, you see acts of violence and terrorism. You see civilians trapped, starved and killed in Syria. You know people who have suffered as the victims of crime or abuse. Do you ever wonder: Why doesn’t God fix the world faster?

He has a really good reason for the delay. We’re looking this morning at part of Matthew chapter 13, a chapter we’re working our way through this spring. The chapter as a whole is asking why more people don’t follow Jesus.

It’s a good question. The Jesus we read about in the Bible certainly is great. He could heal the sick. He could raise the dead. His teaching kept the crowds spellbound.

And yet, even in his own day, only a very small group were his genuine followers. And today, the number of Christians is growing all the time, but you’d expect more wouldn’t you, if Jesus was for real.

It could put you off sharing your faith with others. It could even make you question your own faith.

Some people have the most wonderful family life. Others have proved all too painfully that you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. In fact, maybe some of you feel that family is overrated.

When you get married, you find you’re part of two families, and that can make for even more fun. Join a church, and you’re in another family.